Dexter s08e01 Episode Script

A Beautiful Day

Previously on Dexter: Oh, my God. Dexter, what the fuck? Travis was here. He came at me. When I thought about everything he did, I wanted him dead, so I killed him. I have to call this in. Maybe we should get rid of the body. Gasoline, fire, it'll erase any trace that we were ever here. I never wanted her to go through this, Dex. Neither did I. I found a blood slide exactly like the ones we found in Doakes' car. Bad people are still going missing, and Doakes-- Was the Bay Harbor Butcher, end of story. I have to keep my secret safe. Otherwise my life, her life, will never be the same. Are you a serial killer? I only kill certain kinds of people. Oh, God. Are you the Bay Harbor Butcher? Dad taught me. He gave me a code. Dad knew? You're like a magnet. Bad shit is gonna find you. Dexter is a blood-spatter analyst and Doakes always thought something was off about him. What if Doakes was on to him? The Bay Harbor Butcher. Maria thinks it might be you. Me? Hannah McKay. She stabbed a woman five times. All I can think about is giving her what she deserves. Do what you gotta do. Dexter You're the only person I don't have to hide anything from. Maybe you understand me a little better than I understand myself. I love you. It's because she's a serial killer? If you love me, you'll accept this. If I love you? I'm in love with you! Wha--? Debra's been in a car accident. You poisoned Debra. You were supposed to choose me. She's my sister. Goodbye, Dexter. Security footage from before the fire department got the call on the burning church. What were you doing there, lieutenant? Are we really that fucked? If all she's got is that DVD, I can handle this. LaGuerta's an innocent. She doesn't even meet the code. It's the only option. Hector Estrada. I was three years old when you murdered my mother. You're Dickie Moser! Dexter Moser. - I have another kill I have to do. - It's not so easy. I can't let Deb go down for what I did. It's Deb. Whatever you're thinking, please don't do it. So, what's the plan? I use her gun to shoot Estrada in his puncture wound. Use Estrada's gun to shoot LaGuerta. Deb. Dexter? You shouldn't be here. Why shouldn't I be here? Shoot him, Debra. You have to end this. Shoot him. Stop! Do it, Debra. Shoot him. Do it! Shoot him! This is not who you are. You're a good person. You're not like him. Put him down! It's true. Everything she said. You're a good person. Do what you gotta do. Dex. I hate you. There's nothing like a crisis to help define who you are. A better person would feel bad about LaGuerta's death. But the truth is it solved all my problems. It's gotten me back on track. In the six months since I've coached Harrison's soccer team to a championship gotten the bowling team back together made some new friends. I'm a survivor. She chose a career in law enforcement. And I know for a fact that she never regretted one day of service. It's a choice that none of us take lightly. Is Aunt Deb gonna be here? I don't think so, but we'll get together with her real soon. Maria was very important to me. She was a good cop. She was my boss. Very briefly my wife. But mostly she was a friend. I miss you, Maria. We all do. Thank you, Lieutenant Batista. At this time, we would like to dedicate this beautiful memorial in her honour. Ladies and gentlemen, fellow officers, I present to you the Captain Maria LaGuerta bench. Okay, well, we're off to swim class. Say goodbye to Daddy. Bye, Daddy. See you after work, Harrison. Okay. A bench. Why a bench? She deserves more than a place where people park their butts. It's a nice bench. It's concrete, very sturdy. You can buy them at the parking lot at Home Depot. I'm sorry. Was that insensitive? No, that's exactly my point. This all feels so cold. You're still hurting, I can tell. All right, look, first of all, it's weird when you try to speak Spanish. Second, don't ever touch me. It's been six months. You're having a tough time moving on. How am I supposed to move on? My dining room is filled with boxes of her stuff. He's right, you know? It's been six months. Maybe you should just get rid of it. And then what? She just disappears? Hey, Dex, I was kind of hoping your sister would stop by. Yeah, how is Deb? She really wanted to be here, but she's working long hours. She's better? Oh, yeah, she's great. That's good to know. Yeah, she took LaGuerta's death kind of hard, even though they didn't seem all that close. There's no telling how you're gonna react. You know, when Mike Anderson was killed, I just wanted to get away from all this. It took Maria's death to turn me back. It made me want to do nothing but chase bad guys. I can't tell you how many times all I wanted to do is what Deb did, walk out of here at lunch and never come back. Yeah, Deb can be impulsive sometimes. Tell her to drop by sometime. Place isn't the same without her. For a while, I heard from her every other day, asking for some favour, but I haven't spoken to her in a couple weeks now. Why is that? She's out of town. Right. The Keys. No, Fort Lauderdale. Right. Fort Lauderdale. Well, when she gets back, let's set something up. It'd be good to see her. Yeah, it would. I mean, I'll tell her. It's Deb. Leave a message. The user's mailbox is full. Hey, Vince. Can you cover for me this morning? I always do. Deb's working through this in her own way. I just wish she'd talk to me once in a while. Ooh-aah. Supposed to be for both of us. Mm. I'm sorry. I guess I got carried away. You're gonna have to share. Gotta take this. Business. Okay. Yeah. No, I'm not splitting it up. All or nothing. That is my best price. You've never worked with me before, but you know it's a fair deal. It's 11:47 a.m. You have till tomorrow at this exact time. Fucking amateurs. What happened to your normal guys? I don't know. They disappeared on me. Funny thing, being a fence doesn't seem to be a long-term occupation. What about this guy? Can you trust him? Can you trust anybody? Uh-uh. Maybe if you want, I can back you up. I don't want you involved. Yeah, but I'm really-- Debbie. I appreciate it Ha-ha. but I got it covered. Ahh. What do you want to do today? Preferably something that involves you in a bikini. Why don't we rent a boat? Like a pontoon, little thing, we could go out, relax on the water. No, get something fast. Let's get a speedboat. We can buzz the cruise ships. You like causing trouble, don't you? I can't help it. It's funny how these things work, isn't it? What do you mean? Like when I met you, I'd been in that bar for almost an hour. I was about to leave. Then you walked in. Yeah, I did. It's funny how something so simple as you walking in the door at the exact right moment can suddenly change everything. Yeah. What are you doing here, Dexter? She could be inside. You know what she's been going through. She could've done something. Deb. Deb, you in here? She's not here, Dexter. She asked you to leave her alone. For how long? I haven't talked to her in over a month. I haven't seen her in two months. She's disappeared. She's disappeared from you, Dexter. And that's her choice. What is this? Xanax. Paxil. Adderall. More Xanax. All from different doctors. And pot. Great, she's mixing all this shit. I have to find her. Dexter, you're the problem, not the solution. The best thing you can do for Debra is to stay away from her. I'm the only one who knows what happened. I'm the only one who can help her. She needs me. It's Deb. Leave a message. The user's mailbox is full. I have to find her. Hi. Hi. Can I help you? Yeah, I'm-- Dexter Morgan. Elway. Nice place. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, it's a big step up from my robbery desk at Miami Metro, huh? And it's a good change for Deb as well. Very smart of her, making a move to the private sector, I'll tell you. She here? She is not. You know when she'll be back? Not a clue. She's got a big problem of disappearing on me. What does that mean? She don't like to check in when she's supposed to. When's the last you heard from her? Been a couple of weeks, at least. And that's normal for her? Of course not normal. Debra Morgan. There's no "normal" for her. That was the deal when I hired her. She's her own agent, she chooses the cases she wants to work on, and she calls in when she feels like it. But But what? She's never waited two weeks to call me back. What case is she working on? Some smash-and-grab. Guy skipped out on bail. Uh Name is Briggs. Andrew Briggs. Skip tracing, bounty hunting? Isn't that beneath her? Tell me about it. I try to give her bigger clients, higher-profile cases, but she seems to like the down and dirty stuff. Your sister's a bit of a thrill seeker. Really? Easy money for her. Gets a percentage of everybody she brings in, so Well, what else can you tell me about the case? Not much more to it. Find him, bring him back. If she brings the jewellery, she gets a cut. That's all you know? Like I said she's not big on checking in, so I gotta go. If you hear from her, call me, all right? Is this how I'm going to find Deb? Dead and alone? Are you looking at my ass? No. I mean, yes. What size do you wear? None of your damn business. It's just that I have all of Maria's clothes, and I just thought maybe Oh. Yeah, no, it's-- It's not your style. I get it. She was a very colourful woman. Hey, what do we have? Robert Bailey, 42 years old, Miami resident. Killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest, right above the heart. Judging from the stippling on the wound, it looks like the muzzle was in contact with the chest when fired. Suicide? No, the victim was killed elsewhere and dumped here. Whoa. Parietal and occipital bone sliced through. Back of the cranium removed. Okay, that's weird. And looks like a piece of it has been scooped out, like with a melon baller. Just got weirder. We have a gun. So someone shoots this guy, cuts his head open, and messes with his brain. He takes the body and the weapon and brings them all the way out here. Why? People are crazy. I think we're done here. Okay, process the gun for DNA and prints. With the rain Yeah, do it anyway. Dexter, follow up on the body. Will do. It's Deb. Leave a message. The user's mailbox is full. Where the hell are you, Deb? Andrew Briggs. The man Deb was looking for. Clubbed a security guard over the head, robbed a high-end jewellery store. Got away with over a half a million in unrecovered merchandise. Skipped on his bail, been on the run ever since. Arrested three times for assault. Sent one guy to the hospital with a broken jaw. This guy is dangerous. Did Debra get in over her head? "Password"? Nope. "Fucking password." Here we go. All of her charges for three weeks have been in Fort Lauderdale. And mostly at El Mercado on East 4th Street. She was there yesterday afternoon. I can be there in half an hour. That's the guy she's supposed to bring in. What kind of tequila you like? The kind that makes you fall down. I'll see what I can do. Hmm. What the fuck? Deb, what's going on? I'm working a case. You should get the fuck out. You found your guy. Why haven't you brought him in? How do you know what I'm doing? I talked to Elway. You talked to Elway? He said you hadn't checked in. I was scared something happened. I'm fine. You should get out. Deb, you haven't talked to me in weeks. You haven't returned any of my calls. You completely missed LaGuerta's memorial. Jesus Christ, I wonder why. And would you please erase the messages on your phone? No one has heard from you. Yeah, I'm fucking getting close to Briggs so that I can get the jewellery before he fences it, all right? I'm a professional working a case. Why don't you get out of here before you ruin it? You having sex with that guy? What the fuck? My life is none of your business. Go. No, I'm not leaving. Fuck you. Do you wanna know why I'm not returning your phone calls? Because I don't wanna talk to you. And I really don't wanna fucking see you. Why? Why? Um Because you made me compromise everything about myself I care about. And I hate you for it. No, you don't. I shot the wrong person in that trailer. Who's this guy? Just some loser. Is there a problem? Let's go. She doesn't hate me. She's messed up. She doesn't know what she's doing. It's none of your business. She's using this job as a way to escape. She can't deal with everything that's happened. She's lost, Dad. You've done this to her. Don't make it worse. Leave her alone. Motherfucker cut me off. Dexter, what are you doing? Hey, what's going on? You cut me off. I'm sorry. I didn't-- You lost control out there, Dexter. He knows what he did. Go home, son. Right there Oh. Stop. Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop. Jamie, I'm home. Oh, God-- You stopped. Someone just came in. It's just Angel. Yeah, what? What? I'm sorry, I can't have sex with my lieutenant 20 feet away. I'm not having a problem. That's because you're fucking superhuman. Oh, come on. Joey, the chance that someone might find out our little secret I know. Not gonna happen. makes it even more fun. It's not gonna happen. Come to my place tomorrow morning, we can finish where we left off. I can't. I have to be at Dexter's by 7. What? Fuck. Mm. Mm. Do me a favour? Distract him so I can go out the side door, okay? How am I supposed to do that? Throw some fucking pork rinds on the floor. You owe me. Hey. You're all sweaty. Uh Yeah. It's good that you're working out. Yeah, just doing a little cardio. What are you gonna do with Maria's stuff? Don't worry. It'll be gone by tomorrow. Where? Charity workers are coming in first thing in the morning. Feels sad, though. An entire life just packed up in a bunch of boxes. You know, maybe you should pick out some things to keep. Come on. I think it'll be good. You're right. You're right. You're right. Warrants to trace Dexter's and Deb's phone. Right to the end, she couldn't let it go. Tracking down Estrada by herself, that's what got her killed. Yeah, well, that's just who she was, Angel. Yeah. A cop. That's who she was. Deb should be up there leading this briefing. I have to find a way to get through to her. This doesn't look good. Who do you think she is? Methinks a riddle, wrapped in Dolce & Gabbana inside a-- Can't you ever talk like a normal person? Everyone, your attention, please. As you can see, we have a guest. This is Dr. Evelyn Vogel. She and I first met when she consulted on a case. When most of you were in high school. Dr. Vogel's been away from Miami for a number of years but she's back and has graciously offered her expertise with our recent body dump. But we're only a day into our investigation. I'm not here to step on anyone's toes, lieutenant. It's off the books. Evelyn is a neuropsychiatrist. She's served as a consultant on high-profile cases over the years. And she has written the definitive textbook on the brains of psychopaths. That's how I know you. Your work on profiling is classic. Thank you. I wouldn't normally insert myself into an investigation. She said "insert herself." When I read about the body in the paper, there was one aspect of this murder that I found particularly intriguing. Vince, bring up that x-ray the M.E. sent over. Thank you. You see this part here? That's the anterior insular cortex, the portion of the brain that processes empathy. And the hallmark of a psychopath is They have no empathy. they have no empathy. Now, it's possible this is mere coincidence but if someone goes to the trouble of carefully extracting a core from the brain, I think they'll give some thought to what part of the brain he's taking. So why do you think he did this? It's too early to say, but maybe he wanted to perform an experiment, or maybe this was simply a message. He wouldn't be the first killer to attempt to communicate through a victim. Who was the victim? Robert Bailey. Mechanic. According to his wife, been missing for nearly a week. Was the brain drilled into while the victim was still alive? Dexter? The ME indicated it was done post-mortem. The preliminary autopsy also showed bruising on the knuckles and knees, which could indicate the victim was held captive in an enclosed space. There were no contents in the victim's stomach. Signs of dehydration. The victim was missing for five days. That suggests a pretty elaborate pre-kill ritual for a serial killer. This was just one body. How do you know it's a serial killer? Oh, I doubt that this is his first kill. Those are usually more spontaneous. This was planned ahead of time. A lot of thought went into it. I'm thinking we're looking for someone at least in their 30s. Intelligent, organised. Takes great pride in his work. I think he'd enjoy the fact that we're talking about him right now. You think there will be more? I'd be surprised if there are not. Any suspects? No prints on the gun. It sat in the rain all night. Same story with the body. We're still combing for DNA. Okay, let's widen our interviews with friends and co-workers of the victim. We need to find where he intersected with the killer. Masuka, when ballistics comes in-- On your desk. Dexter, stay on the DNA. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I hear the FBI calls her the Psychopath Whisperer. How lucky are we she's on this case? Yeah. How lucky. Dr. Evelyn Vogel, neuropsychiatrist, lecturer, just published her third book. And the last person I need looking in my direction right now. What do you think? It's nice, right? I guess so. Maria always had it in her office. I want you to have it to remember her by. Oh, thanks. That's nice. You still haven't forgiven her? It's complicated. It's all right. I understand. But if you can't accept it from Maria, accept it from me. It'll make me feel better. Now, I know things were awkward between the two of you before Maria so tragically died. So tragically died-- She died because she wouldn't leave things alone. I don't know why I said that. Sorry. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive her. Yo, Dex-bot. Vogel wants your presence in the morgue. Great. El Sapo. Hello, Mr. Toad. You stay in here. I'm gonna meet him outside. Are you selling the stuff? Well, I don't have it on me, but I'm gonna give him a little show. Deb, hey. Been a while. How are you? I'm working on a case. Andrew Briggs. All business, huh? I only have a fucking second, okay? So can you look into someone named "El Sapo" for me? Hold on. Who is he? He's a fucking fence. I'll run it by the guys in Robbery as soon as I get-- You're welcome. How'd it go? I'm gonna be rich. Dr. Vogel? I got a message you wanted to see me. Yes. Thank you for coming. I was wondering if you'd had any luck with finding DNA on the body. No. We found a few hairs, but they all belong to the victim. Ah. So the killer will have to be found the old-fashioned way. Boots to the ground. Yeah, I suppose. Quinn and Batista having any luck? Not as far as I know. The victim led a quiet life. No enemies. Serial killers don't have enemies. Everyone's a potential victim. Well, if you need anything else, just pick up the phone. Anybody at the lab can help you. I was interested to have your take on this case. Me? Why? I'm the blood guy. The blood guy. How did you end up here? My dad was a cop. He kind of steered me away from that. This seemed like a better fit. I was drawn to forensics too. But I chose to focus on neuroscience. Psychopaths. We both chose murder. Maybe we're both a little crazy. Maybe. Mad scientists trained to look at this as a biological mass. A body part. Yet somehow, from all those firings of neurons, something intangible emerges. Emotions. Trust, morality, love. Unless you're a psychopath. But even then, belief systems emerge. As with the Bay Harbor Butcher. What was he like? Who? The Bay Harbor Butcher. James Doakes. If I'm not mistaken, he worked with you here in Miami Metro. He was angry. Had a short fuse. Well, that doesn't sound right to me. As a psychopath, he would be disassociated from his feelings, not quick to anger. Maybe he wasn't a psychopath. Oh, yes, the Bay Harbor Butcher was definitely a psychopath. He'd have to be to masquerade the way he did. But he was an odd one, that's for sure. You're the expert. Just the way he picked his victims, persons who, on the whole, had some sort of criminal background speaks to a strong belief system. Almost as if he operated with some sort of moral guidelines. Guidelines. Yet clearly it wasn't a moral choice, as psychopaths have no conscience. So why else would he kill that way? So he could get away with it as long as he did? People are less likely to miss criminals when they disappear. Doakes was Special Ops. Maybe he picked that up there. Maybe he did. Makes an interesting case study. I wish I could have interviewed him. Sorry. I look forward to working with you, Dexter Morgan. Yeah? Oh, Dexter. Hi. Come on in. Come on in. Thanks. This Evelyn Vogel-- Quite a looker, that one. Heh. You know her? Yeah, I know her. She consulted for us on a couple cases when I was a captain. Last I heard, she'd moved back to England. I hadn't talked to her in years. And she's here now Why? Because a killer took a part of a victim's brain? She called me up out of the blue, said she'd moved back about a year ago. She asked was I free for lunch, I filled her in on the case, she offered to help. Why, is she being a pain in the ass? No. I'm just trying to figure out if she's an asset or not. Oh. Well, she's smart. So use her to your advantage. Will do. Why do you think she called now? Like you said, out of the blue? Maybe the stars aligned. Maybe Mercury is in retrograde. I don't really care the reason she called. All I know is this is law enforcement. You take whatever free help you can get. So keep her in the loop, Dexter. Will do. What if I'm the reason she's here? Hey, when you talk to your sister, can you tell her to check her messages? She asked me for some help, and now I can't reach her. Will do. Is this about, uh, Briggs? No, she asked me to look into this fence named El Sapo. Nobody in Robbery's heard of the guy. All I know is Briggs robbed the wrong store. It belonged to some mob guy. Now nobody's willing to buy what he's selling except this El Sapo guy. All right. El Sapo. Daddy. Harrison, hey. What a nice surprise. No, not a surprise. We discussed this. We did? Dex, you know I love working for you, but I need an occasional night off. Right. We discussed it. Okay, I've got his dinner in here. Spaghetti and meatballs, green beans, chocolate pudding. Yeah, about tonight, maybe we could-- Harrison, those are Daddy's things. What's this? Bye. It's a very expensive centrifuge. Come on, let's get your dinner set up. Pudding! After dinner. Pudding! Hello? I thought I made it clear. You meet me here with the money, and I take you to the stuff. Yeah, I'll be alone. Fucking El Sapo is "El Idiot." When he comes here, you keep yourself hidden, okay? Why? Because I don't know him. Might be freaky. I wanna go with you. We talked about this. I'm not doing anything that might get you hurt. I'll meet him outside. You stay in here. I love this guy. I love that guy. El Sapo. Real name: Javier Guzman. Harrison, please. Robbery didn't know the name El Sapo because he's not a fence. He's a hit man. Jesus, Harrison! Look at what you did! Uh, I'm sorry. It's okay. I'm sorry I yelled. It's okay. Just give me a second. It's Deb. Leave a message. The user's mailbox is full. Come on. We're going. If Deb is with Briggs when El Sapo shows up, he might take her out as well. It's Joey Quinn. Thrill me. Quinn, it's Dexter. Call me. The fuck! Yeah! I'm coming! The fuck? Hey. You brought the kid. What's going on? You didn't answer your phone. I'm kind of in the middle of something. Well, I need to get ahold of Deb. And you need me for that, why? I don't know where she is. What do you mean, you don't know? I just don't. Look, I know she's in Fort Lauderdale. I need to know where she's staying. She talks to you. Do you know where she is? Yeah, the last she mentioned she was at this place, the Pink Motel. Some dump. Thanks. Come on. Was that Dexter? Yeah. He was looking for Deb. Fucking strange. Hmm. I don't want to talk about that. Come here. Mm. Oh, my God. Why is the whole world against us? Ignore it. This is Jamie Batista. Please leave a message. Jesus. Doesn't anybody answer their fucking phone? We're going for a drive. Okay, Daddy. It's Deb. Leave a message. The user's mailbox is full. What the fuck? I told you to stay away from here. I know, but you're in danger. Someone is gonna kill Briggs. You need to come with me now. The fuck I do. Briggs is about to meet his fence. I'm gonna make a fuckload of money. That's who's gonna shoot him. I'm trying to keep you from getting shot too. That's bullshit. No, it's not. El Sapo isn't a fence. He's a hit man. He's gonna get the jewels and kill Briggs. I know you don't wanna see me, but I had to tell you. All right, you told me. It's very dangerous. I get that. You need to come with me. You could die here. I don't fucking care! Deb. What? What, aren't you the one always saying that bad people deserve to die? You're not a bad person. I killed LaGuerta. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter? Jesus fucking Christ, Dexter, it doesn't matter! That's not what I meant! Come on! Deb, it's been months of this. You can't keep me away forever. You don't understand anything, do you? I wake up every day, thinking of every bad decision that I ever made because of you. And it kills me that I can't take any of it back. I'm sorry. Don't fucking make that face and say "I'm sorry" to me. Even if it were fucking true, it wouldn't make any difference. Because we can't undo any of it. So why don't you go back to your little life and pretend everything's fine but I can't do that because I am not fucking like you! We can talk about this later, but you need to come-- No, we fucking can't. You again? Let's go. Asshole, get your hands off her. What the fuck? What did you do? I felt okay around him. You didn't belong with him. Fuck. Fuck! Fuck! Deb-- Will you fucking go? Will you go? Please go. I came here to save you. No Deb, look at yourself. You're lost. I am not lost. I know exactly where I am. I am in some shitty fucking hell, which is exactly what I deserve. But you You are lost. All my life, I thought I needed you. That I couldn't survive without you. Fuck. Fuck. It was the other fucking way around. It was the other way around. Deb-- Fucking go. Don't-- I'll get rid of the body. No, don't you fucking do anything, all right? I'm gonna handle this. But if El Sapo comes, he's a hit man-- He has no clue who I am. If he comes and sees-- Would you fucking go? I'm gonna call this in. The police? Yes. You should go. I'd like to report a suspected homicide. Go. The Pink Motel in Broward. Oh, fuck. Harrison? Harrison? Harrison! Harrison! Daddy? Come here, buddy. Oh. I couldn't find you. I'm here, buddy. I'm right here. Where are we, Daddy? Lost. So you work for Elway Investigations. Did a skip trace on Briggs, you went out for a sandwich, and you found him dead when you got back. That's it. Any idea who might want to kill him? No. We'll call you if we have any more questions. Elway, I've got a good news, bad news situation here. Briggs is dead, but I think I have a lead on where the jewellery might be so we might have a shot at coming out ahead but I'm gonna talk to you about it when I get to the office, okay? Bye. Mm. Debra was right. I was wrong. It's me who's lost. A better person would let her go. But I don't know how. Without her, I don't know who I am anymore. Dexter? This isn't a good time. I was hoping to share something with you. I told you I'm not in the mood for this. Well, then maybe I can just leave this with you. Dexter, please. What is it you want? Please let go. You can't kill me. Why? Because I don't fit Harry's code.